Have been reading Hillfolk, Blood On The Snow, and various other DramaSystem Series Pitches, and am thinking I would like to run this.

The free System Reference Document (in Open Gaming License and Creative Commons flavors) can be found on Pelgrane Press' website.

Anyone interested and have a Series Pitch in mind? Something suited for campaign play, rather than a one-shot. Can play Fiasco for that.

My curiosity has been piqued by your proposal and I just ordered a copy of Hillfolk.
I don't know if I'll be able to pitch anything just yet, but I'm going to start digesting the pdf tonight.

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 22:08, Sat 02 Aug 2014.

In reply to Alyse (msg # 1)

I'm interested in playing! As far as a series pitch goes, I'm pretty open.

Me too.

I've seen Hillfolk touted alot in drivethru, anyone mind telling someone new to it all a lil bit about the game and system about it all a little?

In reply to cero1 (msg # 6):

That was why I put all those links in my initial post above. Below is the sole review I found in which the author did more than read the rules:

 ~ http://ageofravens.blogspot.co...tem-rpgs-i-like.html

Sadly, the podcast that covered a complete Hillfolk game vanished from the internet. Below are blog posts from another DramaSystem game:

 ~ http://www.ruined.net/tag/dramasystem/

Hi again,

I've just finished reading through and it looks like a good system. I do worry that it might not play out well by pbp without a few tweaks, especially if a scene is called where not all of the characters are involved - but I'm sure you could figure that out, Alyse.

I've only read the Hillfolk book itself, so apart from the Hillfolk setting, I'm most drawn towards the Mad Scientists Anonymous series pitch. That said, the one with the bunnies looks like fun - especially if you could add a zombie apocalypse twist.

Walking Dead plus Watership Down = Walkingship Dead?

I have half a mind to make my own series pitch, set in late 16th century Scotland. I'm still mulling it over in my head. Then again, some people say that I've only got half a mind.

Which pitches do you like the most, Alyse?

My interest is currently piqued by the numerous more historically-based Series Pitches.

Too many intriguing possibilities, hence soliciting suggestions from prospective players.

When you say "historically based pitches", which eras do you consider historical?
Just in the Hillfolk book alone there are pitches as recent as 1950s Moscow or early 20th century Holywood?

Nevertheless, For Queen or Country, or: Dead Mens' Chests appeals to me the most.



Or, Pyrates:

Iron Tsar is the sixth installment of the Series Pitch Of The Month collection.

Nutshell: Engineers battle zombies in the Imperial Court of an alternate-universe magical Russia. It is 1920 and the Motherland is besieged by the undead armies from the west. You are a машинамастера — a machine wizard. Your engineering group must come up with archanotech devices to save Russia from the undead hordes while maneuvering through an increasingly treacherous political landscape, keeping secrets from rival groups, avoiding and engaging in sabotage, and somehow getting Rasputin's blessing to present your finished magical machine of war to the Imperial Court.

Characters: Have the players decide who their patron is, the nature of their project(s), things that might go wrong, and what obstacles they need to overcome to complete their project. Discuss what terrible things may happen if the project is not a failure. The characters all share a laboratory or workspace and the same patron. Despite conflicting interests, they are nominally working on the same war project:

• abomination that was not meant to be
• armchair soldier
• conscripted mechanic
• conscripted university professor
• convict test pilot
• cultist of the old dark gods
• discarded (failed?) experiment
• foreign (undead?) infiltrator
• hungry-eyed, low-ranking aristocratic officer
• impoverished noble seeking a way to bring her family back to power
• intelligent (evil?) monkey
• military witch
• necromancer (not a reanimator!)
• psychic noblewoman
• reanimator (not a necromancer!)
• revolutionary sympathizer
• rural mystic seeking political power
• scheming elder scientist clinging to power
• secret anarchist
• self-taught tinkerer
• shell-shocked soldier
• spy for a noble faction
• spy for another university
• veteran of the front lines
• visionary engineer out to change the world
• wide-eyed conscripted physics student
• young scientist with something to prove

Setting: Snow falls over St. Petersburg or, as it has been known for the last six years, Petrograd. In the distance you can hear the big guns, but the war with the Germans has not touched the capital yet. The center of Russian art and culture continues what the French used to call La Belle Époque (when there was still a France). For six long years, the Great War has ground onwards, with ever more unconventional weapons being used. In the west, the Germans have stalled in protracted trench warfare against the might of British wizardry and the new tanks, and have turned their undead armies to the east. Though outmatched by the magic of the Imperial Starets led by Rasputin, every soldier that falls adds to their ranks. They now control Ida-Viru County and push towards the city. Desperate, and desperate not to seem so, the Tsar has reached out to any who might be able to save the Motherland.

Themes: The world is changing fast and nobody is willing to see it, and it will all end badly. Terrible things are contemplated for good reasons, and evil men serve the greater good. War presses ever inwards, but everyday life goes on, and the closer the war comes, the more fervently burn the fires of decadent intrigue.

• Hubris
• Science vs. Magic
• War
• Inevitability
• Paranoia (both personal and national)
• The True Cost of Serving “the Greater Good”
• Playing at Politics: Fiddling while Rome Burns
• The Death of Innocence and the Passing of an Age
• Man’s Inhumanity to Man, and the Horror of Weapon Design
• The Collective vs. the Individual
• Fear
• The Russian Soul
• Going Too Far
• Trust
• Too Much Truth
• Breaking Free

This message was last edited by the user at 14:56, Tue 12 Aug 2014.

In reply to Alyse (msg # 11):

That looks like a great pitch! rMail me if you get it set up :)

Can potentially get things rolling this week before I leave for GenCon.

Will be visiting family afterward and do not expect to be online much.

This sounds quite interesting indeed

One last collection of things for you all to comment upon, as I assemble the game over the next few days (hope to open it for RTJs by Friday).

Additional Elements: Consult with players to settle on a tone for the series. You might set the dial to 'corny and light', with madcap scientists and craaaaazy cultists and slapstick zombies. Or crank the dial the other way to dark personal horror and paranoia. Play up or remove entirely different elements of the setting. Fold in Cthulhu Mythos elements to make it dark-campy like Hellboy or dark-Lovecraftian like A Colder War. Pull in traditional horror sources like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. Make the setting very steampunk or dieselpunk, or downplay those elements to make it more real-world-but-with-slight-magic. The level of magic might range from the subtle but powerful magic of Bitter Seeds to the overtly magical world of Arrowsmith. A cross-faction series might cast the leads as members of competing teams of engineers and mystics, or revolutionaries or vampiric spies out to ruin the war effort or kill the Tsar.

Hillfolk just won the 2014 Diana Jones Award. ^_^

In reply to Alyse (msg # 15):

The pitch lends itself almost to a West End Games / Mongoose Paranoia style of roleplay. I can imagine the machinemasters competing with each other to get their inventions sponsored, while simultaneously trying to avoid the murderous attentions of Rasputin / Tzar. In that respect the slapstick mood might fit it well.

On the other hand, a dark tone is just as appealing.

This message was deleted by the user at 20:20, Mon 18 Aug 2014.

We are going with a tone similar to that of the Girl Genius webcomic and/or the Laundry Files novels.
This message was last edited by the user at 14:14, Tue 19 Aug 2014.

Has a Wanted-Players post been made yet, Alyse? I was out of contact for over a week and can't find it among the many ads during that time.

Not yet. Having a discussion via rMail currently about our prospective tone, and concerns about players' limited familiarity with Tsarist Russia.

Perhaps we should continue that discussion in game, where we won't be limited to just five people?

We will do that once I have time to get the RTJ set up.

Free time has been a luxury lately, due to career stuff.

Am now accepting requests for access.

Please follow this link to another game.

Game is rated Adult as GM preference.